There’s an old saying that nothing is truly lost just forgotten. It is conventional wisdom that the pre-roman Iron Age civilisation left no trace in the gravel basins of south east England. No mysterious Stonehenge’s, nor colossal Avebury’s.
But is this true?
Many early structures are made of stone, the single cell Norman churches were often built on Saxon structures that in turn were built on Iron Age sites. What were the Iron Age sites like and did they like their usurpers use stone? Churches often sit on prominent sites such as hilltops and mounds even on a mound on a hilltop. A common feature of this mound is that is circular and the church has been built in the centre, claiming ownership of the site.
Often ancient yews are planted in a circle around the church this can be found at St Swithins, at Nately Scures near Hook. It is reported by Victorians renovating the church at Twyford that they found a ‘ring of druid stones’ at the base of the tower. At Farnborough the church sits on a circular mound outside it’s lynch gate stands large flat stones piled upon each other, they were used by churchgoers to mount horses but they probably predate the church by
At Spratt’s Hatch Lane near Dogmersfield a procession of large standing stones lead down to the Island at Tundry Pond, many believe that they are old parish markers connected to the monastic settlement on the Island; these stones are huge and are more like the stones in an avenue than boundary markers.
What I have just written is all personal hearsay and speculation, I am not an archaeologist or a historian but there is I feel, evidence that Iron Age civilisation did leave a mark on this corner of the Thames Valley, Only to be covered by the conquering civilisation and organised religion.
Nothing is truly lost only forgotten.
